Jill Bellomy

SLIS 5960

May 19, 2003

 

 
The Journey

Story by Sarah Stewart  ·  Illustrations by David Small

New York:  Farrar Straus Giroux, 2001

 


About the Book

An Amish girl leaves her home for the first time to visit the city of Chicago. She chronicles her wondrous experiences in her diary, her ‘silent friend.’  The author captures the simplicity of the Amish life in Hannah’s heartfelt entries and lets the reader see the big city with new eyes.  The illustrations are detailed yet playful and contrast the tales of the city to the scenes of life at home in the Amish community.  Hannah gains new knowledge as her horizons are broadened, but she still appreciates the treasures and comforts of home.

 

About the Author

Sarah Stewart, a Texas native, has written several picture books for children.  She often collaborates with her illustrator husband, David Small, on her projects.  Their picture book The Gardener received the 1998 Caldecott Honor and was named the Best Book of the Year by School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly.  Mrs. Stewart and her husband live in Mendon, Michigan.

 

About the Illustrator

David Small planned to be a playwright but found a home in the art department instead.  After earning a bachelors and masters degree in fine arts, he taught drawing at the college level.  Now he creates picture books full time.  Mr. Small's work has earned him much critical acclaim and many awards, the most notable being the 2001 Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in So You Want to Be President?.

 

 

Pre-Reading Activity

Ask the children to think about their homes.  Depending upon the age of the audience, you may have them think about their dwelling or a larger setting such as their neighborhood or city.  What things make their home special?  Discuss ideas as a group.  Then, ask the children to complete the “My Home” sentence frame or paragraph to reflect on their individual ideas.  Allow volunteers to share their thoughts.

 

Pre-Reading Questions to Ponder

Before reading, pose the following questions for the children to consider and discuss:

  1. What is a “journey?”  Is it the same thing as a “trip” or “vacation?”

 

  1.  Discuss the meanings of “urban” and “rural.”  What are the differences?

 

  1. There are many Americans who are Amish.  Does anyone know about the Amish way of life?  (Provide some brief background information about how most Amish live in simple, rural communities and choose to forgo the use of modern technologies such as electricity and cars.  Let the children understand that the Amish people value simplicity and community. Show photographs (see “Additional Resources”) to provide background knowledge.)

 

Post-Reading Questions to Ponder

After reading, pose the following questions for the children to consider and discuss as a class or in groups:

  1. What surprised or delighted Hannah about Chicago? 
  2. What do you think is the first thing she told Aunt Clara about when she returned home?
  3. What did each wordless, double-page illustration show?
  4. What do you think Hannah discovered about her home?
  5. Why do you think the author titled this book “The Journey” instead of “The Trip” or “The Vacation?” 

 

Post-Reading Activities

Choose one or more of the following for the children to complete after reading the story:

  1. Compare Hannah’s experiences in Chicago to the activities of her daily life at home.  Use a Venn diagram to record the children’s responses.

 

  1. Ask the children to imagine that Hannah had come to visit their town or city instead of Chicago.  What would she have seen that would have surprised or delighted her?  After discussing ideas as a group, have the children complete a storyboard illustrating a sight in each frame and completing a simple caption underneath.

 

  1. Ask the children to imagine that they are taking a journey to a new place.  You may have them come up with ideas of destinations or give them a list from which to choose.  (Examples:  Austin, San Antonio, New York City, California, Colorado, Egypt, Mexico,

 

Antarctica, Australia, the beach, a tropical island, the mountains, a rain forest, a desert, etc.).  Discuss things they might see or experience in this new setting that would be different from what they encounter everyday.  Have non-fiction resources such as travel books on hand to prompt thinking.  Ask them to compose an imaginary letter or two to a family member telling about their observations.

 

  1. Encourage the children to research the Amish way of life.  Using non-fiction books and websites, guide them to discover more about how the Amish live, where they live, and why they live the way they do.  Divide them into groups to research the different topics.  Then, do a jigsaw activity forming groups that contain one member of each topical group to share findings.  Research could be compiled in products such as an Amish ABC book, a newspaper, or brochure.  

 

  1. Ask the students to imagine what Hannah’s poems might have reflected.  Have them write one from her point of view.  They could choose a favorite Chicago scene as a topic (Examples:  the department store, the aquarium, etc.) to explore in rhyme or free verse.

 

6.       Hannah learns a lot about different ways of life in Chicago.  Ask the children what we could learn from the Amish way of life.  Have them write a top 10 list (in the style of David Letterman’s J) listing the benefits of the Amish lifestyle.

 

  1. In one letter, Hannah states:   “The city has more of everything… More people – all kinds of people – with almost all the colors of the quilt in their different clothes and faces.”  Give each child a square piece of paper to create a self-portrait that shows the details of their face and clothes.  Allow them to use colored pencils, pastels, watercolors, or the art medium of your choice.  Put the squares together to form a quilt showing ‘All Kinds of Students.” 

 

  1. In one letter, Hannah states:  “I feel like happiness has rushed up and grabbed me from behind!”  In another, “I felt larger when we came back to the hotel this afternoon – not bigger in my body, of course, but in my heart.”  Have the students choose one quote with which they connect.  Allow them to write about a time when they experienced a similar feeling and share their response with the class.

 

9.       Read Just Plain Fancy by Patricia Polacco.  Have the children compare the two stories, the characters, the illustrations, and the style.

 

 

Possible Extensions

  1. Hannah is drawn to a haystack painting by Claude Monet that she sees in a Chicago museum.  Allow the children to observe other paintings by Monet to find ones that they enjoy.  After studying Monet’s style, the children could experiment with their own Impressionistic  painting.

 

  1. Hannah visits the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and talks about the number of oceans in the world.  Use this as a prompt to study oceans and marine life or world geography. 

 

Additional Resources

Ammon, Richard.  An Amish Year. 

      Atheneum. (2000)

 

Borntrager, Mary Christner.  Ellie’s

     People Series.  Herald Press. 

 

Coleman, Bill.  The Gift to be Simple: 

     Life in the Amish Country.  Chronicle

     Books.  (2001)

 

De Angeli, Marguerite.  Henner’s Lydia. 

      Herald.  (1998)

 

Polacco, Patricia.  Just Plain Fancy.      

      Bantam Doubleday  Dell. (1990)

 

Seitz, Ruth Hoover.  Amish Ways.  Rb 

     books.  (1993)

 

Yolen, Jane.  Raising Yoder’s Barn.  Little 

      Brown and Co.  (2002)